Our last tuna trip started out all wrong because the crew showed up 1/2 hour late. When you are tuna fishing on a day when the slack water is at 6:30 am, earlier is better than later. Anyway, with the late start, I decided to head to the area where I had been fishing, south of the BC buoy, instead of down to the wreck of the Regal Sword, where I had heard there was some decent reports. Even in the fog, we located the whales and the birds and set the gear out. It looked really good. I guess the day wasn't going to be a bust after all! At 7:55 we hooked up to a really nice bluefin that started peeling line off of the Shimano 50 wide like there was nothing to it. After a 5 to 7 minute battle, the fish pulled the hook and was gone. I estimate him to be in the 60 inch class of fish weighing around 100- 125 pounds. Thats fishing !

After resetting the gear and fishing hard for another couple hours, with no more action, I decided to make a run to the south where my original hunch was to go. So off to the Sword we go and 50 minutes later drop in on the best pile of bait and fish and whales I have seen all year. We hooked and landed a decent bluefin at 46 1/2 inches and iced him down in the box for a later sashimi and toro dinner. About an hour later we got another at 48 inches and a hour or so later called it a day. I wish I had gone to that location first. I would have had another 4-5 hours on the fish and perhaps (most likely) caught a few more than I did. My customers were happy though, and I bet they won't be late again !!

The bass scene is still tough at the shoals located around Monomoy. There are bass with a 50/50 mix of bluefish mixed in with them. Most of the charter capts are trolling in the legal areas with the same results. My last few trips have been to outside the 3 mile line areas and we have been throwing back 15 - 20 bass per trip. It makes for a fun day if you aren't into filling the freezer. For those of you wondering if the word is going to end if you don't get a full limit of fish like all the previous years you fished with me, don't just cancell your trip and leave me hanging, try something different, perhaps a longer trip for tuna, or just go anyway and see what the day will bring. You just might take a few nice fluke along with your blues and probably some bass but maybe less bass than you are used to taking with me.